Dataset Information

Effect of forest management on tree diversity in temperate ecosystem forests in northern Mexico.

ABSTRACT: An important challenge for silvicultural practices is the conservation of tree diversity while fulfilling the traditional objectives of forest management, most notably timber harvesting. The purpose of this study was to compare the tree diversity before and after the application of silvicultural treatments in a temperate forest in northern Mexico. Fifteen experimental plots, each measuring 2500 m2, were established to evaluate the immediate effect of four silvicultural treatments. These treatments were identified by their levels of management: intensive (clearcut, removal 100%), semi-intensive (removal of 59-61% of basal area), conservative (removal of 29-31% of basal area), and a control group. New forest guidelines, in contrast to conventional approaches, were applied to the semi-intensive and conservative treatments based on health and diversity conditions. Basal area, canopy cover, tree and total volume were measured in each plot. The Importance Value Index, alpha diversity, and evenness were estimated before and after treatments. Eighteen species belonging to five genera and five families were found in the study area. The species with the highest ecological values were Pinus durangensis, P. teocote, Quercus sideroxyla, and Quercus convallata with IVI numbers between 13.6 and 24.5%. Alpha diversity was intermediate (Margalef: 2.9 to 3.8), while dominance and evenness were above average compared to other studies (Simpson: 0.69 to 0.77; Shannon-Wiener: 1.44 to 1.6; Pielou: 0.76 to 0.85). The species evenness index in the conservative treatment was high (Sorensen, Jaccard, quantitative Sorensen and Morisita-Horn; 88 to 99%), although abundance decreased. Overall, there were no significant differences in IVI values and diversity indicators before and after treatments, with the exception of the clearcut treatment. When associating the diversity indices with stand variables, only the Pielou's evenness index showed a significant relationship between them. We concluded that both the conservative and semi-intensive treatments did not generate significant changes in tree diversity, but the former had slightly higher alpha diversity indices. These results can provide a better insight on silvicultural practices and their effects on species composition.

SUBMITTER: Monarrez-Gonzalez JC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7233576 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Effect of forest management on tree diversity in temperate ecosystem forests in northern Mexico.

Monarrez-Gonzalez Jose Carlos JC Gonzalez-Elizondo M Socorro MS Marquez-Linares Marco Antonio MA Gutierrez-Yurrita Pedro Joaquin PJ Perez-Verdin Gustavo G

PloS one 20200518 5

An important challenge for silvicultural practices is the conservation of tree diversity while fulfilling the traditional objectives of forest management, most notably timber harvesting. The purpose of this study was to compare the tree diversity before and after the application of silvicultural treatments in a temperate forest in northern Mexico. Fifteen experimental plots, each measuring 2500 m2, were established to evaluate the immediate effect of four silvicultural treatments. These treatmen ...[more]

PMID: 32421694

Similar Datasets

Project description:The spatial patterns of biodiversity and their underlying mechanisms have been an active area of research for a long time. In this study, a total of 63 samples (20m × 30m) were systematically established along elevation gradients on Mount Tai and Mount Lao, China. We explored altitudinal patterns of plant diversity in the two mountain systems. In order to understand the mechanisms driving current diversity patterns, we used phylogenetic approaches to detect the spatial patterns of phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic structure along two elevation gradients. We found that total species richness had a monotonically decreasing pattern and tree richness had a unimodal pattern along the elevation gradients in the two study areas. However, altitudinal patterns in shrub richness and herbs richness were not consistent on the two mountains. At low elevation, anthropogenic disturbances contributed to the increase of plant diversity, especially for shrubs and herbs in understory layers, which are more sensitive to changes in microenvironment. The phylogenetic structure of plant communities exhibited an inverted hump-shaped pattern along the elevation gradient on Mount Tai, which demonstrates that environmental filtering is the main driver of plant community assembly at high and low elevations and inter-specific competition may be the main driver of plant community assembly in the middle elevations. However, the phylogenetic structure of plant communities did not display a clear pattern on Mount Lao where the climate is milder. Phylogenetic beta diversity and species beta diversity consistently increased with increasing altitudinal divergence in the two study areas. However, the altitudinal patterns of species richness did not completely mirror phylogenetic diversity patterns. Conservation areas should be selected taking into consideration the preservation of high species richness, while maximizing phylogenetic diversity to improve the potential for diversification in the future.

Project description:Bacteria are a crucial component of forest soil biodiversity and play an important role in numerous ecosystem processes. Here, we studied the patterns of soil bacterial community diversity and structure in a climax forest (Larix gmelinii; LG) compared with those in degraded forest ecosystems of four forest vegetation types (BD, Betula dahurica; BP, Betula platyphylla; QM, Quercus mongolica; and LGQM, a mixed coniferous-broadleaved forest composed of Larix gmelinii and Quercus mongolica) in the Heilongjiang Zhongyangzhan Black-billed Capercaillie Nature Reserve in northern China, using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16 S rRNA genes. Soil physicochemical properties (pH, soil organic carbon = SOC, total nitrogen = TN, carbon/nitrogen = C/N, total phosphorous = TP, available nitrogen = AN, available phosphorous = AP) differed significantly (p < .05) among the five forests. SOC, C/N, TP, AN, and AP were highest in QM, whereas SOC was lowest in LGQM. Soil pH was lowest in BD and highest in LGQM. α diversity was highest in LG and lowest in QM. The soil bacterial community composition in the climax forest was significantly different from that in the four degraded forests (p < .05). The dominant bacterial phyla were Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, and Rokubacteria. The highest relative abundances of these phyla were: 30.7% for Acidobacteria in LGQM, 42.6% for Proteobacteria in LG, 17.6% for Verrucomicrobia in BD, 5.5% for Firmicutes in BP, and 6.9% for Actinobacteria in QM. The dominant bacterial genera across the five forest vegetation types were Bryobacter and some poorly characterized taxa (e.g., Candidatus_Udaeobacter and Candidatus_Solibacter). Redundancy analysis indicated that SOC, C/N, TP, AN, and AP were the main soil physicochemical properties that shaped the bacterial communities. Our study revealed distinct bacterial diversity and composition in the climax forest compared with values in degraded forests, suggesting that the biotic and abiotic factors associated with climax ecosystems play an important role in shaping soil bacterial community structure and thus biogeochemical functions. The results of this study contribute to a deeper understanding and better predictions of the network among belowground systems and of the functions and services of degraded forests compared with climax ecosystems.

Project description:Alien invasive species can affect large areas, often with wide-ranging impacts on ecosystem structure, function, and services. Prunus serotina is a widespread invader of European temperate forests, where it tends to form homogeneous stands and limits recruitment of indigenous trees. We hypotesized that invasion by P. serotina would be reflected in the nutrient contents of the native species' leaves and in the respiration of invaded plots as efficient resource uptake and changes in nutrient cycling by P. serotina probably underly its aggressive invasiveness. We combined data from 48 field plots in the forest of Compiègne, France, and data from an experiment using 96 microcosms derived from those field plots. We used general linear models to separate effects of invasion by P. serotina on heterotrophic soil and litter respiration rates and on canopy foliar nutrient content from effects of soil chemical properties, litter quantity, litter species composition, and tree species composition. In invaded stands, average respiration rates were 5.6% higher for soil (without litter) and 32% higher for soil and litter combined. Compared to indigenous tree species, P. serotina exhibited higher foliar N (+24.0%), foliar P (+50.7%), and lower foliar C:N (-22.4%) and N:P (-10.1%) ratios. P. serotina affected foliar nutrient contents of co-occuring indigenous tree species leading to decreased foliar N (-8.7 %) and increased C:N ratio (+9.5%) in Fagus sylvatica, decreased foliar N:P ratio in Carpinus betulus (-13.5%) and F. sylvatica (-11.8%), and increased foliar P in Pinus sylvestris (+12.3%) in invaded vs. uninvaded stands. Our results suggest that P. serotina is changing nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon cycles to its own advantage, hereby increasing carbon turnover via labile litter, affecting the relative nutrient contents in the overstory leaves, and potentially altering the photosynthetic capacity of the long-lived indigenous broadleaved species. Uncontrolled invasion of European temperate forests by P. serotina may affect the climate change mitigation potential of these forests in the long term, through additive effects on local nutrient cycles.

Dataset Information

Effect of forest management on tree diversity in temperate ecosystem forests in northern Mexico.

Publications

Effect of forest management on tree diversity in temperate ecosystem forests in northern Mexico.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets